VMware vSphere with ESXi and vCenter v6.5

Overview

This course is an intensive introduction to VMware vSphere™ including VMware ESX™ 6.5 and vCenter™. This class is unique in its approach; which is to identify and eliminate common IT pain points using vSphere. Students learn how to deliver business value; not just the technical or mechanical aspects of the software.

By the end of the class, attendees will have learned the skills, and best practices of virtualization. Attendees will be able to design, implement, deploy, configure, monitor, manage and troubleshoot vSphere 6.5.

Objectives

At the end of the course, attendees will be able to:

Explain the many significant benefits of virtualization.

Install ESXi Server according to best practices.

Upgrade and use Host Client to manage stand alone ESXi hosts.

Configure and manage local storage resources.

Create virtual and virtual to physical network configurations.

Define and use file share (NAS / NFS) datastores.

Create virtual machines, install operating systems and applications.

Install, configure and upgrade VMware Tools.

Install, configure and update the Platform Service Controller and vCenter Server Appliance.

Rapidly deployment of VMs using golden-master templates.

Create clones – one-time copies of virtual machine.

Use Guest OS customization to rapidly configure new VMs according to requirements.

Configure and use hotplug hardware including hot-add vCPUs and Memory.

Business Continuity specialists responsible for disaster recovery and high availability.

Storage administrators who work with Fibre / iSCSI SAN volumes and NAS datastores.

Managers who need an unbiased understanding of virtualization before committing their organization to a virtual infrastructure deployment.

Prerequisites

Attendees should have user, operator or administrator experience on common operating systems such as Microsoft Windows®, Linux™, UNIX™, etc. Experience installing, configuring and managing operating systems, storage systems and or networks is useful but not required. We assume that all attendees have a basic familiarity with PC server hardware, disk partitioning, IP addressing, O/S installation, networking, etc.

Outline

Module 1: Virtualization Infrastructure Overview

Virtualization explained

How VMware virtualization compares to traditional PC deployments

Common pain points in PC Server management

How virtualization effectively addresses common IT issues

VMware vSphere software products

What’s New and Improved in vSphere 65

Module 2: How to Install, Configure ESXi 65

Understanding ESXi

Selecting, validating and preparing your server

Storage controllers, disks and partitions

Software installation and best practices

Join ESXi to a Domain

Local User Management and Policies

First look at the VMware vSphere Client and VMware Host Client

Module 3: Virtual and Physical Networking

vNetwork standard and distributed virtual Switches

Virtual Switches, Ports and Port Groups

Creating VMkernel ports

Creating, sizing and customizing Virtual Switches

Module 4: Connecting to and Using NAS Shared Storage

Benefits Shared Storage offer to Virtual Infrastructure

NFS Overview

Configuring ESX to use NFS Shares

Configuring NFS for performance and redundancy

NFS Use Cases

Troubleshooting NFS connections

Module 5: Virtual Hardware and Virtual Machines

VM virtual hardware, options and limits

Sizing and creating a new VM

Assigning, modifying and removing Virtual Hardware

Working with a VM’s BIOS

VMware remote console applications

Installing an OS into a VM

Driver installation and customization

Module 6: vCenter Server Appliance and Web Client

The need for Identity Source management

Installing and configuring vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Service Controller

Connecting Single Sign On (SSO) to Active Directory and other identity sources